Caryn Hay
3/30/12
EDT 3470
Reflection # 9
This
chapter is about making assessments meaningful. End-of-project assessments are
to check how well the student’s project demonstrated what they learned. Grading
projects to see how well a student understood a topic is great, but this method
allows you to go deeper to check the effort, creativity, and teamwork that went
into the project. Alternative assessments allow the teacher to check the
student’s understanding of a topic better than a multiple choice test.
As
teachers we need to realize not all students start at the same place when
beginning a project, meaning the distance they took their project will be
different also. The chapter suggests establishing “anchors” to get an idea of
where each student started their project, and how far they worked to meet their
goals. This means that teachers need to be more creative when they assess
students, so they can measure how much the student gained from the project,
beginning to end.
The
chapter closes with giving a few examples to assess what students learned
during the project. The first way is to simply talk to your students. Ask each
student on video, voice recording, or simply documented on paper what they
learned by the end of the project. Allow others to comment and give feedback,
which will help the students in the future with upcoming projects. The second
way is to create something new. At the end of the project students can create a
new project or creative way to display what they learned or took away from
their project. An example could be writing a book or newsletter. The third idea
is to model real-world assessments. This means to allow students to take what
they learned and put it into action, or send their work to someone of that
professional field. Lastly, allow students to enter a contest. Contests always
push children to try harder especially if they know they have a chance of
winning something, even if its just a school or class contest.
This was a great post! I like how at the beginning you talk about the different ways to assess students. It is always good to switch this up so that students that learn or express their learning in different ways have a way to prove their knowledge. I agree that teachers need to be reflective in their teaching in order to be their best.
ReplyDeleteYou had a very strong beginning of your reflection, I liked how you stated that we need to assess their knowledge in more than just what we taught them or the topic they are learned, and also in teamwork, time management, their effort and their creativity into the project. The main purpose for use to teach these things is for them to understand the topic, but the purpose for us to provide and assign projects and other things in the classroom is for them to use what they have learned into a further aspect. So all of those things are very important when assess a students project, and all of those things should be accounted for and not just the topic that was assigned. Thinking about it, when I was in school, teachers didn't always grade in this way, but I think it will benefit the students in the long run and give them each a better view of hoe projects should be completed properly.
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